Sensory play and handwriting.

Read, Write, Inc, RWI, is really having an impact on the children's phonics knowledge and reading. I hope you're seeing this development at home with your child reading short words/captions that they see out and about. I'm also hoping you're seeing your child write little notes and labels. Their writing and sound knowledge is really brilliant and I'm proud of how hard they work during their RWI sessions. 

There is a but that comes with all this positivity, sorry! Although our phonics knowledge, reading and writing are great, our handwriting could do with a bit of a push. I've mentioned before about the importance of building up fine motor skills so children are able to use their finger and wrist muscles to effectively hold and control a pencil.  

Messy/sensory play is a brilliant way to build up these fine motor skills. I've attached a couple of Instagram accounts that I've stumbled across and would recommend following as they have quite inspirational ideas and activities for rainy days. @thesimpleot and @inspiremyplay. One is an OT account, an occupational therapist who specialises in Early Years - some of her posts are for young babies so just ignore anything inappropriate, she does have some great posts on fine motor skills and building up for handwriting. 

I'll sort out some handwriting sheets that link to the phonics sayings, e.g 'round the apple and down the leaf', so you know how we teach the letter formation and can then support this with any writing at home.

As always, any questions about any element of your child's learning then catch me at the end of the day or email me.